Fate's Many Paths
by midnightjen
Summary: A collection of one-shots. What ifs, AUs and all the stories in between.
1. Chapter 1

**a/n:** I just binge watched the whole series in a week and now have so many feels it has me plotting out a one-shot collection of what ifs, AUs and imaginings for the future we never got to see. Please leave me a review with your thoughts.

 **WHAT IF #1:** What if George was offered a job after 2X01?

 **Three Years can be a Lifetime**

This wasn't his first stop, though he wasn't sure dropping his bags off at the B&B counted, but it was the one place he needed to go. It probably should have been Lemon, he should have gone to see her first, but he didn't know how to face Lemon, didn't know if he could face her, knowing that she would undoubtedly be with someone new, living the life he'd once promised to live with her.

Visiting Zoe was just easier. If you counted dropping in unexpectedly on the woman you'd broken off a fifteen-year-long relationship for and hadn't seen in three years as easier. Because George wasn't really sure he did. But her words had resonated with him, the whole conversation they'd had shortly before he'd been offered the job and a chance to return to New York had stuck with him. He'd thought about them a lot over the years, about how true they were, about how little he knew about the man he was without Lemon Breeland and after three years and another job away from home (in which, yes, he'd sown some wild oats) he thought he finally understood who the real George Tucker was and he wanted Zoe Hart to be the first resident of Bluebell to meet him.

He didn't have expectations, it had been three years and, honestly, he wasn't sure what to expect of his own feelings when he saw her. In fact, he'd spent the whole drive from the B&B wondering what it would be like to see Zoe again. He expected attraction, he expected old feelings and questions about what could have been.

He was not expecting Wade Kinsella.

He was not expecting Wade Kinsella standing in the door of Zoe's carriage house, covered in spatters of paint, shirtless and smiling his charming no-lady-could-resist grin at a woman in a delivery uniform as he exchanged a package of who knew what for a bag of something.

George thought the renovations on the carriage house would have been done long before now but then again, Wade could just have been patching something up. He waited patiently by his car while Wade finished his conversation and only once the woman had gone and Wade had turned back into the house and closed the door, did George mount the steps and cross the porch to knock on the door.

A moment later Wade answered the door, smirk in place looking as though he was expecting the return of the delivery woman. His smirk became a bemused smile when he caught sight of George.

'Well looky here, George Tucker, back in Bluebell.' Wade clapped a hand on George's shoulder in a friendly manner and stepped out onto the porch. 'New York finally get sick of you?'

George smiled. 'It was time to come home,' he answered. The simple exchange served to remind George how much he'd missed home, how much he'd missed Wade and everyone else he'd known his whole life growing up in small town Alabama.

'You back for good?'

'Seems that way,' George confirmed. 'Listen, Zoe around?'

For a moment, George thought he saw the smile freeze on Wade's face before the smirk returned. 'Back in town five minutes and already looking for the doc?'

'Is she here?' George asked again. 'She does still live here?'

'Yeah,' Wade said after a beat. 'She's here.' Wade turned around and pushed the door to the carriage house open, calling inside, 'Hey, Doc, you got a visitor.'

From inside, George heard something that could have been a response, but it seemed to be muffled by several walls and possibly a door or two. He looked to Wade who rolled his eyes and motioned George inside. Struck by a sudden bout of nerves, George took slow steps inside, noting the paint cans and tools lining the hallway and the drop cloth draped over the stair railing. The door to Zoe's was open and Wade led him through it, heart not-quite leaping into his throat.

As he came through the door he got a look at Zoe before she could see him. She was sitting on the floor, laptop in front of her, what looked like flashcards spread around her. She looked as beautiful as ever, though perhaps a little happier and more open than he remembered. She was dressed more casually than he'd ever seen her too, leggings and an oversized shirt, obviously she hadn't expected anyone to be stopping by and had settled in for an evening at home.

She looked up at Wade when he came in and held her hands up expectantly.

George watched as Wade took her hands and lifted her to her feet, remarking with something that sounded like exasperation, 'How do you get up when I'm not around?'

'I call Levon,' Zoe told him with a smile before she looked over his shoulder to see who he'd brought with him. 'Holy crap. George?!'

Zoe stepped closer, coming to stand beside Wade as he turned to face George and George got his first proper look at her as she stood before him, smile on her face. She stood almost a foot shorter than Wade, which took George a little by surprise because he never thought he'd see her without her towering heels. She looked good, she always looked good.

'Hey, Zoe.'

'When did you get back? Are you back? Does Lemon know you're here? Does Brick? Because you know, he's still mad at you, right?'

He took a moment to let the sound of her voice and all of her questions wash over him before he laid out any answers. 'Today, yes, no, no and I suspected he'd be mad.'

There was another moment while Zoe (and Wade) made sense of his answers and then an awkward silence while Zoe looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain why he was there and it occurred to George that three years was a really long time and he didn't have any idea what he'd been expecting or even hoping for when he'd come to see her but this strange distance hadn't been what he was expecting.

'Yeah, this has been fun,' Wade broke the silence with a wry smile. 'Tucker, good to see you man, stop by the Rammer Jammer for a drink some time.'

With a quick touch of a hand to the small of Zoe's back Wade was gone, disappearing up the stairs, into the carriage house's attic, apparently to finish whatever he'd been doing before he'd been interrupted. Zoe watched him go with an expression on her face George didn't know what to make of before she swung her attention back to him and smiled.

'How have you been? How was New York? Did you bring me bagels?'

'No bagels.' George shook his head. 'New York was good but I kind of missed Bluebell.'

'I know!' Zoe agreed. 'This is not the place I imagined spending the rest of my life but now I can't imagine leaving.'

'I'm kind of surprised you're still here, actually,' George admitted. 'When Dash told me you were still in town, I couldn't believe it. I thought you'd have been drawn away by a surgical position at some big hospital.'

'Turns out, I like being a GP. Who knew?' She was smiling again, that big smile and George felt all those feelings he'd come to associate with Zoe rushing back.

Just when he was about to do something about the feeling, maybe ask her for coffee or dinner, the door of the carriage house opened and about the last person George ever expected to set foot in Zoe's home walked through the door with an arm full of curtains and followed by AnnaBeth Nass and a woman George only vaguely recognised who was carrying a picnic basket.

AnnaBeth drew up short at the sight of him but Earl walked right inside, depositing the curtains on the couch and planting a sweet kiss on Zoe's cheek. George didn't know what surprised him more, the kiss or the fact that Earl was very clearly sober and looked to have been that way for a while.

'You know, you really do need a table in here,' the woman mused, setting the picnic basket on a side table.

'What are you doing here?' AnnaBeth asked, overriding any response Zoe might have made to the admonishment about her lack of a proper table. 'Does Lemon know you're back?'

'She doesn't, no,' George admitted.

'You came to see Zoe first?' AnnaBeth asked and George felt she was justified in her outrage.

'I should go.'

He expected Zoe to protest, to offer him the chance to join them but she didn't, she just smiled again, welcomed him home and said she might see him in town tomorrow. Feeling even more uncomfortable than he had when he first entered her home, George left. He glanced back over his shoulder when he reached the door, but no one was watching him leave, AnnaBeth was purposefully engaged in conversation with the woman and Zoe was talking to Earl who was showing her the curtains he'd walked in with.

As he drove back to the B&B, George had the uncomfortable feeling that he didn't belong. And it was a feeling that just kept growing as the evening wore on and turned into the next morning. The news that he was back in town spread fast, Dash made sure of that with a blog post detailing his arrival in the late afternoon, how he'd asked after the town and then disappeared off "to see their very own Zoe Hart". George hadn't listened to more than that, he'd been almost hurt to learn that in this equation he was the outsider while Zoe was the local favourite.

He wasn't surprised when he was ambushed in the Butterstick Bakery getting breakfast the next day. He wasn't surprised when he got stopped and berated by the gazebo or when he finally bumped into Lemon outside the Rammer Jammer. She been perfectly polite to him, though rightfully cold in her own way, informing him that his leaving her was the best thing that ever happened and that she was engaged to a perfect gentleman who treated her right and would never do something as terrible as leave her.

Dazed from his conversation with Lemon, he wandered into the Rammer Jammer feeling off balance and swimming in guilt he hadn't really had the chance to feel. The sight of Wade leaning on the bar, talking to Zoe as he picked at some of her fries didn't help the feeling. The expression on Wade's face was one George had never seen before and it brought him up short. Which gave Wade and Zoe a few more uninterrupted moments they wouldn't have had if he'd kept walking.

Which turned out to be a good thing, because Wade laughed at something Zoe said, which had her giving him an indignant look that had Wade leaning forward to capture her lips in a kiss. There was something so intimate about the whole exchange that astounded George and he found his feet guiding him toward them before his brain had really engaged, coming to a stop just behind and to Zoe's left as Wade broke the kiss, reached out and placed a hand over Zoe's stomach.

Which flattened her shirt against the swell of her belly showing off at least six months of growing baby.

'You and Wade, huh?' came out of his mouth in a strangled squeak. 'When did that happen?' he asked before they could do more than glance over at him.

'The night of your non-wedding to Lemon,' Zoe replied.

'The…? Seriously?' he demanded. 'So that whole speech about sowing my oats and learning about the real George was, what, just a brush off?'

'No,' Zoe answered evenly, 'I meant it. I just didn't know when I said it how much but I meant it.'

For one excruciatingly long moment, George felt himself swelling with anger but then, before he could say anything, before he could be hurt or angry, he remembered what he'd been through in the last three years, the people he'd met and dated, the things he'd gotten to see and do, and he deflated. What came out of his mouth instead was an incredulous, 'You and Wade for three years? Wade? In a relationship. For three years. Seriously?'

He expected some sort of agreement, some sort of indignation from Wade and an explanation from Zoe but instead, Zoe's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open, uttering an, 'Oh,' that seemed to be so full of meaning it had her gobsmacked. She spun to face Wade again, as though she'd clearly just realised something important, grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him into a kiss that he returned without question. 'I'm going to marry you.'

'What?' George yelped but his question was drowned out by a very pregnant Wanda who happened to be passing (waddling by) with a tray of drinks because she said, in a very loud and excited voice, 'It's about time!'

'Well alright,' Wade grinned happily, and to George's astonishment, pulled a ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto Zoe's finger.

'You had that in your pocket this whole time?' Zoe's eyes filled with tears and Wade smirked.

'Lemon had a plan.'

'Lemon?' George repeated drawing their attention back to him. He didn't feel like he'd come home anymore, more like he'd stepped into an alternate reality.

'A lot has changed in three years, Tucker.'

'Yeah,' George agreed, watching Wade steal another kiss before he drifted off to take some orders. 'Yeah, I'm getting that.'


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n:** Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! I loved hearing your thoughts and opinions on the show and my writing. Fell free to do the same for this one!

 **The Future:** The moment Candice realised she was proud to call Wade her son-in-law.

 **Family**

Bluebell isn't overwhelmed with choices when it comes to restaurants. Candice worked that out on her very first trip, years ago, when she first tried to drag Zoe home. These days, the options are still just as limited. She can eat at the B&B, she can visit the mayor's plantation and eat with him and his wife (she's been assured she's always welcome but when Zoe isn't around it feels inappropriate) or she can choose between the Butterstick Bakery and the Rammer Jammer.

On her first trip to Bluebell, the choice was simple, as a New Yorker, she went where the coffee was and the bakery had the best coffee in town. But this isn't her first trip to Bluebell anymore and although she'll never admit to it, she feels a certain sense of loyalty to the Rammer Jammer as one half of the income that supports her grandchild.

Realistically, the coffee's gotten worlds better (Zoe's influence she can only assume) and there's a bigger breakfast menu that doesn't consist mostly of pastries and baked goods. The lunch and dinner menu might be filled with fried food and grits but at least for breakfast she can get fruit and eggs made just how she likes them.

Some mornings, Wade is behind the bar, filling coffee orders to go and checking to make sure his bar is running smooth. Some mornings she knows he's home and that Zoe is the one off at work. She doesn't go out of her way to avoid him like she once might have, on a good day, she'll even admit that Wade is a good guy and he genuinely loves Zoe. He certainly loves Jack (named for his grandmother, she's been told, and often wonders if that means she'll get the honour of the next one – or if Earl will somehow grab that place).

Wade's not in this morning, Wanda is. Frodo (and if that isn't a truly horrendous name for a little girl, Candice didn't know what could possibly beat it) is at the end of the bar, colouring quietly as her mother works and Candice takes in the whole scene of the Rammer Jammer and realises with some combination of horror and contentment that she recognises everyone in there. Even if she doesn't know all of their names (the man in the corner might not have a name she remembers but she knows he works at Fancies on weeknights) but she knows how they fit in this little town and she knows that every single one of them knows she's the mother of their beloved town doctor and grandmother to one of the most doted on children in all of Bluebell.

Though, she thinks that last bit might just be because no one ever expected Wade to have a child and they're celebrating this chance. Or because Levon still hasn't figured out how to say no to the combined efforts of Zoe, Wade and Jack.

It's while she's floating in that calm and content feeling of being perfectly at home (and somewhere she never would have wanted to feel that way before Zoe moved), that her phone rings. She hasn't given up work completely, she's not old enough for retirement and she's still got plenty of fire in her, but she has stepped back a little, she's teaching a few underlings how to handle some of the jobs she'd normally have done herself. She might not understand Alabama boys, but she isn't about to lose the opportunity to know her grandson just because work pulls her away.

Four times a year, for three weeks, she come and stays in Bluebell. The first time she did, it was right after Jack was born and she'd been so enamoured with her new grandson that it had been easy to ignore work, to let it all fall to the wayside just for another chance to stare down at those beautiful eyes.

Three years on and she has a designated two-hour window every morning to field calls from work and put out any fires that might have sprung up while she's been absent. It surprised her more than anyone how easily she let work go for Jack and although she hasn't told Zoe, these days, the idea of retiring to Alabama holds more appeal than a life of leisure in Manhattan. Honestly, she's not quite ready to admit it to herself just yet.

The point, though, is that she's at the Rammer Jammer when the call comes in and it's the manager of a singer she deals with from time to time and he's looking to head off rumours that his singer has sold out for the money by performing small shows in unknown but intimate locations. It's a good idea and she's happy with whichever one of her underlings suggested it and they talk PR for a bit, trying to narrow down the kind of venues they need and what kind of press and wondering if it's feasible to do these shows with only twenty four hours of notice for the public (no huge amount of money made off ticket sales – just a door charge maybe) when it hits Candice that she's sitting in the perfect place for one such show.

Two weeks later (she's got just three days left of this trip) and she's back in the Rammer Jammer, this time for brunch. Not that she's told anyone that. She picked this day because she knows it's one of Wade's (Jack is with Levon) mornings at the bar and because at this time of the day its tourists and the occasional local filling up tables.

She's waiting on the manager for that singer, musing on how good this could be and a little glad that now that Zoe has stopped throwing up so much in the morning's Wade has had time to shower before work. Another couple of months and they'll be back to being lucky if he has time to put on a clean t-shirt.

Candice pauses, coffee cup just touching her lip when she realises something quite profound. The first time she introduced Wade, he was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, looking like he hadn't had time to stop and think in his rush to hop a plane to New York, desperate to fix things with Zoe before it was too late. She'd announced his arrival at the party she'd thrown for Zoe with an edge that hinted at scorn because as nice as his words had been, as much as she could see he loved her daughter, he was still just a bartender from a small town Alabama and a tiny nowhere town at that.

The second time she'd introduced Wade, there'd been no scorn but respect. It was just in passing, a friend of a friend stopping by for a file for work on a rare weekend when Zoe had come to her. He'd been polite and friendly but they'd both been busy doing their own things and she'd thought nothing of it.

There'd been more people here and there between now and then, but this was the first time she would be introducing him to someone that she thought mattered. And not to her. This, she realised, wasn't about her, she could have left the rest of the details for the show up to August (because it turned out he was the one who'd come up with the plan to save the singer's reputation) but she hadn't because as soon as she'd suggested the idea she'd realised how great an opportunity this was. For Wade.

She was sitting in the Rammer Jammer, waiting to introduce him to someone in the music industry because she knew he had the perfect place for the kind of show they wanted. She was waiting to introduce him because she'd looked up the history of live music at the Rammer Jammer, compared the list of artists and bands to a list of popular country music stars, and found a much bigger overlap than she'd expected.

The man she'd first met, years ago, when Zoe was still new to Bluebell had been a simple bartender, content to sleep around and go nowhere. The man she knew now owned and ran a successful business that helped provide for his family and he'd stepped up and become a responsible man.

She felt a twinge of what Earl must feel when he looked at Wade and saw how far he'd come and so when the two men in suits walked in, looking around with interest (and appearing mildly shell-shocked by Bluebell itself), she got to her feet to meet them as they approached her table. Offered cheek kisses to both men and asked after their trip before she caught Wade's eye and drew him over.

He was reaching for his order pad when she stalled him by getting to her feet and wrapping an arm around one of his. She did nothing to conceal the pride when she said, 'Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my son-in-law, Wade Kinsella.'

And if he looked a little surprised by the pride in her voice, he did a good show of hiding it behind a professional manner she didn't realise he had, but that made her all the more aware of how far he'd come and just how right he was for her Zoe.

One day soon, she might even tell him that.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n:** My only explanation for this one is that I have always, always wanted to write a time travel AU and this is the first time one just flowed naturally. Thanks for al the wonderful reviews! Your support means the world to me!

 **AU:** Because if you were going to believe in curses and magic it would certainly be in Bluebell.

 **The End of Bluebell as We Know It.**

She could hear Wade counting down beside her, happy to join in on the end of the world craziness for his own amusement but Zoe was too busy being mad at Lavon for stealing her proposal to do much more than fake a smile.

Tom led the crowd in the countdown to one and then there was a pause, a moment while they all waited to see what would strike Bluebell down. But nothing happened. Of course, nothing happened, and Zoe was just turning to Wade to offer him a wry smile and perhaps an eye roll when the world suddenly tilted beneath her feet. She had a moment of alarm in which she reached for Wade and another flare of alarm when she realised he was reaching for her and then she was standing in broad daylight on the side of the road, New York heels on her feet and suitcase dragging behind her.

She was a rational, scientific person, logically she knew she must have passed out in town square and that while she dreamed of her first day in Bluebell, Wade was probably freaking out, calling for Brick and possibly an ambulance – she was heavily pregnant after all.

Weird time to relive her arrival in Bluebell but she was beginning to learn that there were parts of her hardwired for Bluebell crazy. She liked to blame Harley for those even if she also liked to thank him because they helped her fit in and call Bluebell home.

Just in case it was going to be that easy, she pinched herself. She didn't wake up, she hadn't really expected to. She just hoped there was nothing wrong with the baby because she wasn't sure how well Wade would handle something like that. She wasn't sure how well she'd handle something like that and she was a doctor who knew all the risks.

She started walking and if she took a few minutes to relish the feel of her no longer swollen and pregnant feet in her beautiful shoes then there was no one to judge her for it.

She'd only been walking for a couple of minutes when, just as it had all those years ago, a blue pick-up pulled up alongside her and there was George leaning across the seat asking if she wanted a ride.

Zoe opened her mouth to greet George, to make some pithy comment about him appearing in her dreams only she couldn't get the words out. The words that did come out of her mouth were the same ones she'd said to him all those years ago about her policy against being chopped up into pieces.

The whole exchange on the drive into town played out exactly as it had when it was originally happening, she didn't seem to have any control over her body or her words and while it wasn't exactly a problem (she was asleep after all) it was kind of weird. And annoying. Really annoying. She had to replay every cringeworthy flirtation with George, the foot-in-mouth moment when Emmeline told her Harley had passed away and the entire snappy exchange with Lemon which wasn't so bad really because it gave her a chance to be snarky and she was still a little annoyed at Lemon for stealing her proposal.

But the day wore on and nothing changed, she fangirled over Lavon, failed to make a good impression on most of the town and although she'd been sort of looking forward to it, the exchange with Wade over his using up all the power and blowing the fuse went almost exactly as it had the first time. Almost exactly. She didn't remember there being nearly so much tension between them last time. The way he'd been looking at her, well, there'd been serious risk of her panties catching on fire.

Although she did like what it said that even in a dream in which she was replaying every awful moment of her arrival in Bluebell that she still wanted Wade. Really wanted him. In a way that reminded her there were certain things they hadn't done in a while because she wasn't nearly as flexible as she used to be.

She was so wrapped up in sexy thoughts about Wade that she almost stepped on Burt Reynolds, though she felt her body take over with the same reactions as originally occurred, she was a little annoyed that George had to come to her rescue because she knew better than most how to deal with Burt Reynolds these days.

Finding out you could dream within a dream was more than a little disturbing so by the time she woke up for her second day of reliving her arrival in Bluebell, Zoe was determined to break from the pattern. She tried to have different conversations with people, tried to walk in different directions, tried her hardest to do anything remotely different that might wake her up from what was certainly beginning to feel like a nightmare but no matter what she tried, her body just seemed to be on autopilot.

So, when it was time to replay Zoe drunk off cheap wine from a box, she was a little okay with the floaty inebriation because it was a nice break from the tedium of repeating the second day in a row. Plus, it came with a bonus of making out with Wade in his car, so there was that.

Only, when Wade pulled up in front of her, arm draped across the back of the seat as he looked out at her, there was a beat where she waited for him to speak, for the whole event to replay (she wouldn't have minded really, making out with Wade was always a highlight of the day) but it didn't happen. It might have been her inebriated state, but she thought she saw Wade's body jerk sharply and then he was out of the car coming around to her and scooping her drunk ass up into his arms.

And for the first time in two really, really long days, the words that came out of her mouth were her own and not just a repeat. 'This didn't happen last time.' She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and allowed him to put her in the car. 'I kind of wanted to make out with you.'

She was pretty darn drunk so she might have imagined the sharp look Wade gave her as he eased his arms out from under her but it was over before she could really focus on it and then he was in the driver's seat and taking her home and she found herself shifting until her back was pressed against the door and her feet were in his lap. She wanted to look at him, soak him in. He glanced over at her and met her gaze. He held it for longer than he probably should have while driving and then he flicked his eyes back to the road.

'What would have happened if we'd made out, Doc?' his words held a weight she was too drunk to notice.

'I'd have played Dixie with my butt.'

He might have said something to her after that but there was a comfort in sitting in Wade's car with her feet in his lap and she was really drunk, it was easy to fall asleep, knowing that Wade would never let anything happen to her. There was a comfort in knowing this exchange had finally gone different, that she'd finally been able to exert some control over her own actions.

She still woke up in bed the next morning, not pregnant, reliving the past and mildly hungover. Unlike last time, there was a glass of water and some aspirin beside her bed and Wade Kinsella asleep on her couch.

She sat up suddenly and the world spun a little but everything in her stomach stayed exactly where it was, and she thought she had vague memories of Wade making her drink two glasses of water before he'd put her to bed.

That had never happened before. Well, no, it had happened before because she'd certainly been drunk around Wade and he'd had to put her to bed once (or twice) before but that was in the real world and not this horribly repetitive dream state.

Only, she was beginning to wonder if this was an ordinary dream. Maybe she was in a coma? Did that mean her brain had played out how she wished that night had really gone? Because she could see how that might have made things run smoother for their relationship if she hadn't immediately hurt him with her "generic beer breath" comment and used him to ease the George issues but the moment she'd seen him she could admit to just really wanting to make out with him. She hadn't changed anything, she hadn't been able to.

Wade had.

Sobriety made a few things from the night before clear. She remembered, the strangely jerky motion before he'd gotten out of the car, the way he'd paused when she'd said it hadn't happened like that before and the way he'd asked her what would have happened if they'd made out. She remembered he hadn't made a crude remark about her response.

Confused – but determined – Zoe scooped up the aspirin and the glass of water. She swallowed the pills and finished off the water and then eased out of bed, glancing down at her bare legs as she did. It was weird to be able to see so much without the belly in the way. It was nice to see her feet, but she would rather have her baby back. She was sick of this dream/nightmare/coma weirdness. She wanted her life back, wanted her body and her baby and her Wade back.

Which might have had something to do with the way she woke him by running her hand through his hair and lightly scratching his scalp and not throwing something at him or shaking him violently. 'Wade.'

He opened his eyes and she saw the recognition, the flare of a smile and a hint of the way he looked at her in the real world before he was properly awake and had time to take her in. Something shuttered behind his eyes, but he seemed determined not to close it off entirely. 'It's not the first time I've slept on this couch.'

Zoe laughed and said quietly, 'No ghosts this time.' She realised what she'd said a moment later and hurried to make up an explanation, but she didn't have to.

Wade stood up in one quick move, grabbed her by the hips and tugged her forward into a searing kiss that she felt right down to her toes. When he broke the kiss he didn't step back, there wasn't any excuse on his lips like the first time he'd pulled that move, he just looked down at her and said, 'There's no bump in the way.'

Startled, Zoe looked down between them and then up at Wade. 'Wade?'

'Zoe.'

'Why are you in my dream?'

'Don't think this is a dream, baby.'

She mulled that over in her mind. She thought back over her initial thoughts when she'd found herself back on the road walking into town, about how she was a doctor and how there had to be an explanation for this but there was also that little part of her that remembered freaking out about being cursed and the knowledge that if something weird like a curse was going to be real it would definitely happen in Bluebell.

And then she thought about what had happened right before she'd found herself on that road. 'The end of Bluebell as we know it,' she whispered. Then she pulled a face. 'We've gone back in time.'

'Yeah.'

Zoe stared up at him. 'We've gone back in time,' she repeated.

Wade nodded, and she was glad to see that as calm a front as he was putting on, he was just as confused and freaked out as she was. How long were they going to be stuck here? Was this permanent? Because having Wade here made it easier but it didn't erase the fact that it had taken her years to earn the trust and love of Bluebell and in a single moment all of that good will had been erased and now she was back in a place she thought of as home where nobody even knew who she was.

'Crap.'

Wade nodded his agreement but then a thought occurred to him. 'Want to have sex?'

Apparently, she wasn't the only who missed flexible and limber Zoe. 'Yes, I do.'

They could worry about being stuck in the past later, right now, she was happy to ignore the weirdness in favour of amazing sex with Wade.

Priorities, right?


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n:** This was entirely inspired by last nights adventure in babysitting. I'm helping raise my nephew and last night my sister went out for a break and I was tasked with watching him overnight. I've done it before. Last night was not fun. Thanks for all the reviews! Enjoy this accurate portrayal of parenthood.

 **The Future:** A quiet moment at home.

 **Precious Sleep**

It's 2AM and she's so tired she's reached a point where she's lying in the dark weeping and she doesn't know how to stop. Wade is passed out beside her, propped up against a stack of pillows, dried spit-up crusting on his t-shirt and Jack cupped carefully against his chest. There son is sleeping peacefully and so Zoe is perfectly content to ignore all the literature that says you're not supposed to let your baby sleep like that.

Clearly all those people who wrote the literature on SIDS and overheating your child were perfectly caught up on sleep and were feeling vindictive.

Jack is asleep, and he is damn well going to stay plastered to Wade's chest if it means her husband can get some sleep. She wishes she could join him. Wishes she could just let go and sleep, finally sleep, but her mind won't turn off and the tears keep flowing and she's not even sure why.

She remembers Tom's warning to Wade that the hormones only get worse after birth and she can't help but agree. It is, after all, 2AM and she's lying in the dim glow of a night light just watching her husband and their son sleep and its one of the most beautiful things she's ever seen and she just wants to stop crying but she can't because what she really wants and what she knows will stop the crying is Wade but she won't take this away from him.

Sleep is precious, she doesn't begrudge him this chance to catch up. Well, not much. Maybe a little. She just wishes she could stop crying, just wishes that she could take this precious thirty minutes (please god let it be more than that) and sink into oblivion because she knows – knows with absolute certainty – that she's not getting much chance to rest tomorrow.

Two days. They just have to make it through two more days and then Lemon and Lavon are going to take Jack and She and Wade have plans to sleep for twenty-four hours straight. Funny how your priorities can shift. Just three months ago, the idea of having a solid twenty-four hours alone with Wade would have been an excellent excuse to have crazy sex for hours.

Now, she and Wade can't stop talking and thinking about sleep. She's taken a man who was well on his way to sleeping with everyone woman in Alabama and turned him into a loving and caring husband whose most precious commodity was sleep. Actual sleep.

And god sleep was amazing. So amazing, just, all she needed was five minutes. Five more minutes to –

And, of course, Jack started to cry.

Wade jerked awake and it all started again.

Kid was so lucky he was cute. So lucky.


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n:** Yes, it has been a long time since I posted a chapter, I feel terrible, I also haven't had the time or energy to write anything in a month (my nephew is exhausting, work is busy, basically real life is a bitch). I am now on a glorious camping trip (okay we're glamping) and have had the perfect relaxing day and found the motivation to finish this chapter. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and the kind words!

 **The Future:** Jesse had to come home eventually, right?

 **A few Surprises**

He could admit he hadn't been home in five years, probably closer to six, really, so he'd expected some change, well as much change as Bluebell could ever go through, but this wasn't something he could have prepared for.

The few times he'd spoken to Earl, conversation had been brief. He hadn't exactly left town on the best of terms with his father or his brother, but he'd at least tried to stay in contact even if the harsh realities Wade had dropped on him left him with a cold feeling every time he spoke to Earl. Still, he'd checked in every couple of months and the conversation had been trivial and light at best. He asked if there was anything Earl needed (the answer was always no) and let his father know where he was and where he was planning to be.

At no point in any of those conversations had Earl mentioned anything that could explain the sight of Wade crouching beside a child's play pen that had been set up in the middle of the Rammer Jammer's floor as he engaged in conversation with three small children, the oldest of which looked to be three at the most, the youngest maybe a year and looking like this standing up thing was still a new but relished experience.

Jesse didn't know much about babies or children, but he wouldn't have pegged his brother for a man who knew anything about them either.

It was the middle of the afternoon, too late for the lunch crowd and too early for the dinner crowd, leaving the bar mostly empty and giving Jesse the chance to hear the tail end of what his brother was saying.

'Well, alright then,' and he held his hand up to each of the kids in turn for a high five. When he got to the youngest, he dropped a kiss on the boy's head before he got to his feet. 'Ethel, you're in charge.'

This declaration was met with varying degrees of understanding, but it seemed to be some sort of signal they all knew because the three kids disappeared back into the playpen and started banging toys, babbling and talking, perfectly content to occupy themselves.

Wade spotted him when he turned back to the bar and Jesse didn't know how to read the expression on his brother's face. They stared at each other for longer than was comfortable for either of them before Wade broke the silence with, 'Earl's not here.'

Jesse didn't get a chance to reply before Wade was moving behind the bar and started to wipe down the counter, cleaning away the evidence of what Jesse realised was the kids' afternoon snacks.

Before he'd left town to join the army they'd had a good relationship, not great, but better than most. He hadn't realised how hard things would be on Wade when he left, had been so focused on getting out, on doing something good with his life that he hadn't spared much thought for what he was leaving his brother to deal with. Since then, the few times he'd been home, he'd looked at Wade working as a bartender, sleeping with every woman that walked by and living (seemingly) without care or responsibility and he'd felt justified in his decision to leave. He'd had big dreams, Wade was content to stay in the same town they'd grown up in, staying the same as he'd always been.

Only, the last time he'd come home there'd been more anger and words than he'd been expecting and even though he still left again, this time, he'd gotten the impression that as much as Wade complained, he was happy to be the one taking care of Earl, happy to let their father fall further and further down the path of town drunk.

The Wade he thought he'd left behind didn't mesh with the image of his little brother looking after children. Though the bartender picture still seemed to be holding true.

'I'm not here looking for Earl,' Jesse told him, walking toward the bar so Wade couldn't ignore him. 'I figured I'd talk to you first.'

Wade sighed, pressed his hands down against the bar, one clenching around the cloth he'd been using, the other clenched into a fist. 'What do we have to talk about, Jesse?'

'Can't I just stop by to see my brother?' Jesse knew the moment the words were out of his mouth they were the wrong thing to say but he didn't exactly have a plan for how he wanted this conversation to go.

'You don't just stop by,' Wade pointed out and then something over Jesse's shoulder caught his eye because he said sharply (but with a trace of humour), 'Frodo, don't eat Roger's arm.'

Jesse glanced over to see that the middle child – a girl named Frodo apparently – had the arm of a stuffed bear in her mouth, a move that was making Ethel look murderous. An impressively scary look for someone so young. Jesse turned back to Wade, 'Who named their kid Frodo?'

'Tom Long.'

Jesse nodded, it made perfect sense. Curious, he couldn't help asking, 'Who would let Tom name their kid Frodo?'

'Wanda.'

Jesse's eyebrows shot up. 'Really?' Then he thought about that for a moment. 'Huh, guess that kind of makes sense.'

Of course, he still didn't understand why Tom and Wanda's kid and two others were in a playpen in the middle of the Rammer Jammer, but he figured he could ask that question because it wasn't something likely to make Wade mad and he wanted his brother talking to him as long as possible.

'The other two?'

'Ethel's the oldest, she belongs to Shelby and Brick.'

'Brick? Brick Breeland?' Jesse looked at the girl who looked up at the sound of Brick's name. She looked nothing like Brick, maybe she took after her mother, he'd never met Shelby, he didn't think.

'Yeah,' Wade replied with a grin. 'Lemon was really hoping it was a midlife crisis, but Shelby is definitely here to stay.'

'Huh.' He looked back at the playpen, at the little boy beating two blocks together and babbling happily away to Frodo. 'And the third?'

Wade was quiet for so long, Jesse turned back to look at him. The look on his brother's face was one he didn't know how to read. 'His name is Jack,' Wade answered slowly. 'He's Doc Hart's.'

It took Jesse a moment to place the name and when he did, he remembered the fiery little New Yorker who seemed to be turning Bluebell upside down. He was honestly surprised to learn she was still in town, hadn't she mentioned plans to be a surgeon like her father?

But that was beside the point. 'Why are they all here?' he asked. 'The Rammer Jammer doesn't exactly strike me as an appropriate daycare facility.'

Wade shrugged. 'Tom's at work, Wanda's on lunch, Brick and Zoe are working and, let's see,' Wade considered the rest of them, 'Shelby is visiting Magnolia. Oh yeah, and our resident babysitter got into Columbia.' Wade waved over his shoulder to indicate a photo stuck up on the wall that was proudly displaying a photo of what looked like a grown-up Rose Hattenbarger in front of a New York street sign.

Weird that there would be that photo up on the wall, but he thought it might have had something to do with the smug grin on the girl's face.

'And, what, you're the next best thing to a teenage girl?' Jesse thought he was being funny but instead he'd said the wrong thing again and Wade's expression was cool and closed off when he next spoke.

'Well, maybe I'm just naturally good with kids.'

Jesse was trying to formulate a reply when Lemon Breeland breezed (and even thinking that made him wince) inside heavily weighed down with seven months of pregnancy but looking sunny and happy. She didn't have anything to say about the sight of a play pen in the middle of the Rammer Jammer, so Jesse could only assume it was a regular occurrence.

She didn't stop at a table or even the bar, slipping around behind the bar to bestow an excited kiss on Wade's cheek, throwing her arms around him and trapping him in a hug that didn't exactly look easy or wanted, judging by the disgruntled look on Wade's face.

'You will never believe what's happened!' Lemon exclaimed, giving Wade one last squeeze. 'You are going to owe me big time, Wade Kinsella.' Only once she'd said this did she notice he was leaning against the bar. 'Jesse!' she greeted with a smile he'd seen often enough in their youth to know it wasn't entirely sincere. 'What are you doing here?'

Jesse shrugged, he was aiming for nonchalant, but he seemed to be having an off day because Lemon's eyes narrowed when he tried to brush it off as just a desire to visit home.

Wade seemed content to pretend he wasn't even there when he pushed Lemon back on track to ask just why he was going to owe her.

'AB just called me to tell me that Amy Jane is coming to that wedding I'm hosting at Fancies!'

'And I care about someone named Amy Jane why?'

'Because Wade, Amy Jane is friends with people who know people who happen to know that Taylor Swift is looking to revisit her country roots and AB might have subtly hinted that she should put on a small show at a bar she knows and so you should really keep the 22nd of next month free.'

There was a beat and then Wade let out a whoop and planted a kiss of his own on Lemon's cheek. 'You're right, I owe you.'

'And I already know exactly how you can pay me back.' The smile Lemon gave him had Jesse concerned for Wade's wellbeing.

Wade seemed to know exactly where Lemon was going with this because he shook his head. 'Oh no, I'm staying out of this.'

Jesse didn't like the stern expression Lemon shot at his brother and his preservation instincts were telling him to get gone before she somehow managed to rope him into whatever this thing was they had going. Neither of them seemed to be paying him much attention and when he told Wade he'd leave them to it, that he'd catch him later his brother looked about as thrilled by that idea as he did for Lemon's plans for repayment.

There were a few things he wanted to do now that he was back in town, a few friends he'd been meaning to catch up with who just happened to be back in town visiting family as well and so by the time Jesse pulled up in front of his father's house it was dark and he was thinking about taking Earl out for dinner under the (incorrect) assumption there wouldn't be much in the house in the way of food.

There was an unfamiliar car parked next to Earl's and the lights were all on in the house. As he was getting out of the car Jesse got the distinct impression something fundamental had changed about the house but from the outside and in the dark he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He still had a key for the front door (no matter how many times Wade had threatened to change the locks) but something had him hesitating and after a moment he pocketed his keys and raised a fist to knock. He was glad he did when the door opened, and he came face to face with a woman he didn't know.

'Uh, hi,' he greeted hesitantly as she tilted her head to look at him as though she recognised him from somewhere but couldn't place where. After and awkward moment he asked, 'Is Earl here?'

'Jesse!' the woman blurted excitedly. 'I recognise you from all those pictures. Come on in.'

Feeling a little as though his world had been tilted a further thirty degrees off its axis (and wondering what pictures the woman was talking about), Jesse followed her inside.

'I'm so happy to finally meet you,' she was saying as she ushered him in. 'I'm Mae Ellen, you father's told me so much about you.'

Jesse wished he could say the same but the last time he'd spoken to Earl had been just as brief and light on information as all the other phone calls they exchanged. There definitely hadn't been any mention during any of them about a woman.

Or sobriety.

Because when Earl emerged from what had once been Jesse's room, pulling the door gently closed behind him, Earl showed every sign of being stone cold sober and of having been that way for a while. Jesse's surprise was tempered by guilt when Earl's face lit up at the sight of him and he moved to pull him into a hug.

Possibly the first words Jesse spoke could have been better. 'You're sober.'

Earl pulled back to stand beside Mae Ellen and the pride on her face when she looked at him spoke volumes. And it made Jesse uncomfortable.

'Two years,' Earl announced with well deserved pride of his own. 'I haven't touched a drop in two years.'

His own pride felt strange and undeserved, because as much as he'd known deep down his father had had a drinking problem he'd also ignored every time Wade warned him where that money he kept giving Earl was going. It had been easier to give away money and pretend the problem didn't exist than deal with the chance that he'd have to stick around to help sort the problem out.

'That's great, Dad,' Jesse murmured. Awkwardly, feeling like he didn't belong in the house he'd grown up in, he looked around trying to find something to talk about. His eyes tracked a series of strange additions to the living room and the kitchen table that made his mind come a little unstuck. There was a high chair pulled up to the table. There were kids toys scattered across a play mat in the centre of the living room as though about to be tidied.

For one horribly irrational moment Jesse feared he had a baby brother or sister to contend with and then rationality took hold and all he could think to say was, 'What's with the toys?'

He didn't know Mae Ellen at all but the look she directed at him was filled with such motherly disappointment that he felt as though he were five years old again and had just been caught feeding Wade's stuffed bear to the neighbour's dog. Seeing that look from Earl was even worse.

'They're Jack's,' Earl answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Feeling like something you might find under a rock or in the dark and dank depths of an underwater cave, Jesse asked the question they both seemed to think he should already know the answer to. 'Who is Jack?' Because if they were talking about the Jack he'd already met, the one Wade had said was Zoe Hart's then Jesse knew there were a few important things his baby brother had left out of that introduction.

'He's my son.'

Jesse whipped around. He hadn't heard the door open behind him but at the sound of Wade's voice he whipped around to find Wade was standing in the doorway, the petite New Yorker he'd met all those years ago and gone on possibly the weirdest first date that had resulted in an unfortunate (though air clearing) argument with his brother, was standing next to him.

Zoe also seemed to be pregnant.

Any comment Jesse might have once made about Wade knocking up a dumb blonde conquest just didn't seem appropriate when confronted by the united front he presented with a pregnant Zoe.

As if he could read Jesse's thoughts (and they were probably clearly written on his face), Wade said, 'You remember my wife Zoe.'

Of all the things he'd seen, all the surprising developments, Jesse thought he'd hit the most surprising when confronted with a sober Earl who was apparently in a relationship.

Turned out a married Wade was the most surprising of all.


End file.
